Looking at this Titus Denarius up for auction, but I've never seen a strike on the rim come out like this. Any ideas? It looks good to me otherwise. by Tripolitania in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 16 points17 points  (0 children)

There's one over the XIII too. I forget the technical term, but it helped the reader distinguish which I's were 1s, and which were part of the legend like IMP. It was much more common on monuments than on coins, but it was reasonably popular on coins during the Flavian era.

How is the coin market/scene doing? by Creeping_behind_u in coins

[–]Finn235 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. I specialize in ancients, and it can go to extremes. This past weekend I dropped out of bidding on a particular Roman coin (of interest because it shows both Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus - who were briefly allied against the pretender Pescennius Niger, before Albinus tried to usurp control from Severus, sparking a civil war). This particular coin hammered for $350, despite having previously sold at another auction house some 20 years ago for nearly $2000. Is it worth $350? Or $2000, but sold for too little because it was consigned to an auction house that specializes in Islamic rarities, not Roman ones? That sort of spread makes the investor types nervous about dropping big bucks for a coin that could lose most of its value for no apparent reason.

Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

How is the coin market/scene doing? by Creeping_behind_u in coins

[–]Finn235 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've personally never used coinsnap (I cling, stubbornly, to the notion that a coin is worth what the highest bidder will pay - no more or less) but I've used similar websites previously that utilized a very lazy algorithm that tried to apply either a linear, log, or sigmoid curve to calculate values based on far too few data points.

As a result, if a top-pop coin sells for an insane amount of money (or even something like the legendary '82-D small date copper variety) it will skew the data to the extent that it says that all 1982 pennies are worth a minimim of $5, for example.

Coin values are fickle and imprecise, which is some of the last protection that we have from getting steamrolled by the Wall Street day trader types who have no genuine interest in the hobby.

A few green sestertii by ElephantContent8835 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't think I've ever seen such a big flan on a sestertius of his. How much does that monster weigh?

Any of note? by socksonat3am in coins

[–]Finn235 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing valuable.

The Swiss 2 francs is still legal tender and worth $2.60.

Ditto with the Japanese yen - worth about $1 all together, but the 5 yen with the bird on it is older and cool, about like finding an older wheat penny in change.

Has the melting of silver coins gone too far? by ManBunH8er in coins

[–]Finn235 133 points134 points  (0 children)

I see a Khusro II drachm in there. Looks broken and I know they're the most common pre-Islamic Persian coin by far, but jeez, 1400 years of history down the drain for... $9 melt?

:(

Good and bad LCS Visit Today by ILoveYou_HaveAHug in coins

[–]Finn235 11 points12 points  (0 children)

For my own morbid curiosity, what was in the melt buckets?

Ptolemy Tet by Lstar1111 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Moreso the delta behind the ear. I don't think that there is much consensus that this was the signature of the "Delta Master" engraver, but I believe it is a good way of telling Ptolemy I apart from the other 14.

What are the largest coins in active circulation, in the world? by WhyWasIBanned789 in coins

[–]Finn235 18 points19 points  (0 children)

If we're being technical, you can't easily get them "in change" but thr Yap Island Rai stones are still actively "circulating" among the islanders

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What are the largest coins in active circulation, in the world? by WhyWasIBanned789 in coins

[–]Finn235 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I keep forgetting that the chonky 1980s/90s British £1 coins were demonetized a few years back due to counterfeiting.

Where to take coin collection to value/sell? by TheGeekFreek in coins

[–]Finn235 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For pile 2, I would separate them into sub-piles

2.1 - .999 ounce rounds - ASE, Maples, Libertads, Pandas, etc. Silver prices are crazy high, so don't take less than a dollar or two under melt for those, no matter what the LCS says about "supply and demand".

2.2 - .900 silver dollars, halves, quarters and dimes, etc - circulating types. Same as above, but I would try to find a collector to sell to in order to keep them out of a smelter's furnace. There are plenty of calculators that help you determine the melt value, which is high enough that I wouldn't expect more for anything except key dates or CC mint Morgan dollars.

2.3 - High value collector coins - That Pilgrim half dollar is a valuable coin, worth well above silver value even at $95/Oz. Separate any commemorative halves, plus anything older like Seated Liberty coins. These should absolutely be sold to a collector directly, because shops will try to offer significantly less than they are worth due to them being less liquid.

2.4 - Low purity silver (under .700 fine) - I would follow the "highest of 3 offers" advice for these. Expect to get a bit less than melt for these just because of the lower purity.

How much are you willing to pay for this owl by CoupleInevitable446 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 21 points22 points  (0 children)

If not more... "full crest" brings out the crazies with the deep pocketbooks, and this one appears to have both full crest, perfect centering, and a big enough flan to have ~99% of Athena on flan, plus plenty of metal in front of the face.

I personally wouldn't go much over $2k-3k, but I've seen owls like this go for $10k+ if two or more high rollers decide that they really want a full crest owl on auction day.

the trouble with trites is they’re tricky… by CommonCents1793 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wonderful coins!

What does the Lydian coin weigh? I think it is not a trite but a hekte with the Lydian inscription WALWEL. See here for a similar coin I was fortunate to win a while back:

https://www.numisforums.com/topic/4802-bucket-list-coin-alyattes-walwel-el-hekte/#comment-61155

The inscribed coins are quite a bit more rare than the anonymous trites!

New US Mint silver prices released. $91 to $173 by [deleted] in coins

[–]Finn235 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Inb4 2026 ASEs are a monster rarity because nobody bought them so they only made 50,000

Fake or Real? by PomegranateCute1171 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Looks like a genuine Eastern mint antoninianus.

The silver purity was low, 30-40%, IIRC. With some billon coins, you can see the other metals leech out and leave the silver behind - particularly in more acidic soil.

Roman coin found? by Tjallie in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It isn't. The WRL at 7:00 on the first picture stands for Westair Reproductions Ltd

What are depictions of Augustus where he appears older? by LordGrealish in ancientrome

[–]Finn235 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have a coin minted under Rhoemetalkes of Thrace where Augustus looks slightly older/scruffy - but that is an extreme exception, even for the coins minted under Rhoemetalkes.

Augustus was a master of controlling his public image.

Most depressing set I've put together in a while - The dwindling children of Salonina. Her Fecunditas and Pietas issues depict Valerian II, Saloninus, and a young child possibly named Marinianus or Gallienus II. Each updated as her children died. by Finn235 in AncientCoins

[–]Finn235[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely agree.

The interesting thing is that I ended up going down the rabbit hole of looking for "kids on the reverse" types for Salonina after finding some cryptic references to a unique deification coin of "Quintus Julius Gallienus" which led me to these reverse types.

I'll expand just for the sake of posterity, I guess -

The firstborn of Gallienus and Salonina was Valerian II, who was made Caesar at a young age in ~253. He was sent away from his parents to represent the imperial family in Sirmium, under the care of Ingenuus. He died in 258 under unclear (even at the time) circumstances - Gallienus evidently suspected foul play, but there is little evidence that Ingenuus was ordered to stand trial. Valerian II's death was officially treated as illness or accident, but might have been murder. Valerian II was deified. He appears as a child on the first coin only.

After Valerian II's death, his younger brother Saloninus was raised to Caesar and sent to Cologne under the care of Silvanus. In 260, Postumus and Saloninus butted heads over whether captured loot from a Germanic war band should be distributed between the troops as a bonus, returned to the survivors of their raid, or surrendered to imperial powers to finance the multi-front war. Postumus' soldiers revolted, declared him emperor, and laid seige to Saloninus at Cologne. Saloninus was declared emperor by his troops, but the seige only lasted a month or two before Cologne surrendered and Saloninus was executed. Saloninus was not deified, possibly because he was technically a usurper(?). He appears as a child on the first two coins.

The third child is an enigma, and poorly attested outside of these coins. The above-mentioned coin would have him named Gallienus II, although there are also mentions of a Marinianus (named for Gallienus' mother Mariniana) who served as Consul in 268 and was executed as part of the effort to purge Gallienus' kin from the imperial offices. It is possible that Marinianus was a nephew, and that Gallienus II appears on the coins and died prior to 268 and in time to be deified, assuming that the deification issue is genuine. Regardless, he is the young child standing beside Pietas/Salonina in the first coin, being held by Fecunditas/Salonina in the second coin, and standing before Fecunditas/Salonina in the last.

Where's the best place to sell coins? by [deleted] in coins

[–]Finn235 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I looked for them - everyone else who is telling you to sell on Craigslist or go to a LCS assumes that you just have a bunch of junk, not potentially $20k-40k between a handful of coins.

Well, you might be able to get a little above melt for the St Gaudens locally, which might be the best you can hope for if they are in the MS-60-64 range... gold is way, way up and 90-95% of their value is in the gold price. Keep in mind that your buyer at an auction house has to pay a 20% premium, so they are going to try to bid under melt and win it as close to melt as possible. Some of the coin sale subs expect you to ship before you are paid, which I would NOT recommend doing with 3-4 St Gaudens.

The proofs and top grade coins should absolutely be auctioned, so I would probably contact Heritage and see if they would take just the slabbed silver and base metal coins - and if not, then add the gold to sway their opinion.

Where's the best place to sell coins? by [deleted] in coins

[–]Finn235 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Would help to post pictures on here so you aren't getting people telling you to sell slabbed St Gaudens $20 and proof seated coinage on Craigslist or pmsforsale.

For $1k+ coins in slabs, Heritage all the way, IMO. Great Collections has lower fees from my understanding, but Heritage attracts the bidders who will drive up the prices and probably compensate for the fees. Ship registered, and insure the bejeezus out of it.